Anthropogenic pressure on large carnivores 269
locations), which could promote high levels of competition between tigers and dholes. In general, our findings suggest the three large carnivore
species may potentially face a problem of low prey abun- dance, as there were few detections of suitable prey species in the area. To support these carnivore species, the long- term recovery of large ungulates, such as sambar, gaur and banteng, would be an important conservation goal. Since the opening of Myanmar following political
changes in 2011, there has been an increase in human pres- sures and development activities, such as road expansion for village development and security purposes, in the southern region. This has resulted in extensive forest degradation (Savini et al., 2022). Recreational hunting by people crossing the border from Thailand has been recorded using camera traps and reported by villagers. The effect of this hunting needs to be quantified. Large, interconnected areas are important for the
movement of tigers and other large mammals and thus gene flow (Bennett, 1999). The survey area lies on the Isthmus of Kra, adjacent to the narrowest part of the Thai Peninsula, and almost all of the remaining habitat corridors are in Myanmar (Connette et al., 2016; Aung et al., 2017). However, no formal conservation management programme is in place to address the threats of forest clearance and un- controlled hunting to the forested landscape and its globally threatened species. Plans to establish protected areas in the region were dropped in June 2019 and ongoing political turmoil in the country is affecting conservation activit- ies. However, a small number of community patrol teams have been organized by FFI, who have made some progress in removing snares and deterring poachers (FFI, unpubl. data, 2018). A total of 630 activities linked with hunting (drift nets, snares, hunters encountered in the forest, hunting dogs and hunting platforms) up to 10 km within the forest boundaries were identified over 49 patrol days during March 2017–January 2020 (FFI, unpubl. data, 2020). The killing of two adult tigers in 2018 (N.M. Shwe, unpubl. data, 2018) suggests that this effort remains in- sufficient as village teams can only cover a limited area and have no law enforcement authority or training.
Acknowledgements We thank the Myanmar Government Forest Department for granting permission to conduct the surveys, and three anonymous reviewers for valuable comments on the manuscript. The fieldwork and analysis were undertaken by NMS as part of his PhD, sponsored by a KMUTT Petchra Pra Jom Klao Scholarship (Diamond scholar 18/2558). We thank field biologists from the FFI biodiversity team,Wahplaw WildlifeWatch Society team, and village conservation groups. The research presented here was sponsored and supported by the EU, Helmsley Charitable Trust and the Integrated Tiger Habitat Conservation Project (ITHCP1338) through the FFI Tanintharyi Conservation Programme.
Author contributions Survey design, data collection: NMS, SSA, MG; data analysis, writing: all authors.
Conflicts of interest None.
Ethical standards This research abided by the Oryx guidelines on ethical standards.
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Oryx, 2023, 57(2), 262–271 © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605321001654
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